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Carrasco Can’t Survive Hit Batter and Homer

It was through dubious circumstances that the right-hander D. J. Carrasco, a rather forgotten man this season, re-entered the conversation this week at Citi Field. Then, as quickly as he appeared, he was gone again.

Carrasco was ejected from the Mets’ game against Milwaukee on Tuesday after hitting Ryan Braun on the arm with a pitch following a home run by Rickie Weeks. That drove Manager Terry Collins to remove David Wright from a blowout loss in an effort to protect him from retaliation. The move caused a dugout argument between Wright and Collins.

The Mets on Wednesday denied there was any residual friction within the team, but the problems for Carrasco continued. He allowed a monstrous two-run homer to Todd Frazier in the eighth inning that helped bury the Mets in their 6-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night. Shortly after, he was designated for assignment.

Carrasco said he thought it was solely his performance — and not the extracurricular drama — that had led to the move. But he left open the possibility.

“Those questions I guess will never be answered,” said Carrasco, who struck out the batter after Frazier’s home run, Devin Mesoraco. “The answers will always be speculation.”

Before the game, Collins had backed Carrasco, saying he had no reason not to believe him when Carrasco said he did not hit Braun on purpose.

“I trust what he says,” Collins said, “I trust the way he told it, and we’re putting it behind us.”

Carrasco’s defense has focused on the idea that he, a reliever returning from injury and starved for work, would be foolish to get thrown out of a game. Carrasco sprained his ankle in spring training, and his appearance Tuesday was just his third for the Mets this season. His fourth one Wednesday ended up being his last.

Photo

Mets reliever D. J. Carrasco, right, was ejected Tuesday after hitting the Brewers’ Ryan Braun.Credit
Barton Silverman/The New York Times

Carrasco, 35, struggled mightily in his brief Mets tenure. Before last season, Carrasco signed a two-year contract worth $2.4 million. The contract was one of just two multiyear deals that General Manager Sandy Alderson has given over two off-seasons with the Mets.

“I feel horrible about it,” said Carrasco, who lowered his earned run average Wednesday, to 7.36 from 7.71. “I wanted to justify the contract that he gave me and eat up some innings here and have a good season, keep them in some games. I didn’t do any of that.”

After signing the contract, Carrasco proceeded to have the worst season of his career: opposing players batted .337 against him and he finished with a 6.02 E.R.A.

Before the game, Collins stretched to find positives from Carrasco’s time with the team, ultimately complimenting his performance in spot starts.

“He’s been put in a tough situation in the bullpen, because he’s really never had a declared role down there,” Collins said.

Carrasco said Wednesday that his struggles last year were partly because he relied too much on his cut fastball and did not have a pitch to offset it. He said that he had success in the past — in 2010, he had a 3.68 E.R.A. — simply changing locations, but that he could not replicate those results.

“If it’s the same pitch every time, unless you’re Mariano Rivera, they can hit it, man,” Carrasco said.

His struggles became so bad that he tried throwing sidearm in the final month of last season in what he called a “last ditch” effort to contribute to the team. He has since gone back to his overhand motion. Over the winter, he added a pitch that he called a split-changeup, primarily to throw to left-handed hitters.

The Mets rebuilt their bullpen in the off-season, acquiring three pitchers and moving Carrasco down the depth chart. He then fell completely out of the picture Wednesday as the Mets recalled the left-hander Robert Carson from Class AA Binghamton.

“I would have done the same thing if I was the G.M.,” Carrasco said. “I haven’t been able to produce, and the bullpen is struggling right now. You need a guy that’s consistent and they have confidence in, and I don’t think they have that. You can’t blame them.”

A version of this article appears in print on May 17, 2012, on page B17 of the New York edition with the headline: Carrasco Can’t Survive Hit Batter and Homer. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe